


Countdown to Love

by FuturePast56



Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: ? - Freeform, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, But Ian destroyed the plan, Carl has one line, Coming Out, Fluff, Happy Ending, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I also wrote it the last day of 2017 and forgot to publish it, Ian is freaking out, Kinda, Little Mickey, M/M, MY BABIES, Making Out, Mama Milkovich is dead and Mickey is sad, Mickey had a plan, Mickey is freaking out, Oops, Romantic Soulmates, Sad Backstory, Some angst, Soulmate-Identifying Timers, Soulmates, Swearing, They love each other and are adorable, Timers, XD, because I had to give him something, getting caught, i will stop tagging now, ups
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-06
Updated: 2018-01-06
Packaged: 2019-03-01 08:16:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13290822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FuturePast56/pseuds/FuturePast56
Summary: The world when you have a timer on your arm counting down until you meet your soulmate then it starts going up in negative numbers.Mickey loved the idea of soulmates when he was a child, but after his mom died he stopped caring about ever meeting his soulmate. In fact, he had a plan to make sure he will never meet them.Or"Mickey had a plan, very simple and very doable – he will lock himself in his room and won't leave for the entire day when he supposed to meet his soulmate. Fuck destiny, fate, and soulmates whatsoever. Destiny can't move his ass from the bed so he can meet people so he can do whatever he wanted."





	Countdown to Love

Mickey secretly loved the idea of soulmates when he was a child. He didn't really have role models of soulmates as his parents got married before they met their soulmates, to highlight their teenage rebellion. When Mickey was only four years old he was jumping around in the kitchen, next to his mom as she made cookies and hummed a song under her breath. She was happy – she always was when her husband left on some business trip (later Mickey would learn that it always were drug deals). He then noticed the little clock on his mom's wrist – the one that she always kept covered with bandages. 

"Mama? Why are you covering your soulmate clock when dad is here?" He asked and Nadia stopped humming and she looked down at him. 

"Aren't you observant, Mikhailo?" She said and closed the oven. "It's because my clock is still ticking and your father isn't. I don't want him to feel bad about it" she explained and Mickey nodded, not noticing how his mom chose her words very carefully.  

"But... Doesn't it mean that you will still meet your soulmate?" He then asked, his black eyebrows furrowed. Nadia nodded, her lips suddenly became a straight line.  

"Maybe... Let's just hope that your dad won't be around when it happens" she then said and smiled. "And how is your clock doing Mikhalio?" She asked, pointing at his left wrist. 

"It's still a lot, mama" he said, pointing at his numbers that went around his entire wrist, changing with every second.  

"It is... Not as long as Colin's though. When your brother was born his entire left arm was covered in numbers. It's still longer than yours and Colin is six years older" she helped and Mickey smiled. 

"You think I will meet her soon mama?" Mickey then asked and his mom kissed him on the forehead. 

"You will meet your soulmate faster than you think" she said and Mickey smiled. He wanted to ask more questions, but Mandy started crying in her room and his mom went to pick her up. That was the last time he talked to his mother about soulmates. 

**** 

Not ever a year later Mickey come back from school to notice his dad slowly smoking a cigarette on the porch, his knuckles bruised, his shirt and face covered in blood. 

"Dad?" He asked, standing not to close to have a chance to run if that was a necessity. 

"Fuck off, kid" Terry mumbled, his voice stoic so unnatural to his nature. Mickey should be scared of this sudden change, but he didn't have any survival instincts – he didn't have to have them before.  

"Is... is mom home?" He asked. That was a bad move, which Mickey discovered only couple seconds later as his dad moved faster than Mickey suspected and picked him up and started to shake his body. 

"You want to go to her?! To that fucking whore of a mother?! You know that she wanted to leave you all, that fucking cunt? Hmm?! She was about to run away with her fucking soulmate, hah. But I put her down. None of them is going anyway, I can fucking promise you that... She will never leave the living room" Terry growled as tears started to fall down Mickey's face. The smell of alcohol and blood combined with pure rage in his father's voice and blankness of his eyes would scare anyone, and his five-year-old son wasn't the exception. When Terry stopped talking, he looked at Mickey and finally saw him, his entire body shaking, both face and pants wet because of this terrible scare his father just decided to perform. "You pissed yourself? Fucking pussy" he mumbled and let him go, as a child fell down on his back. His dad sat back on the steps on the porch and Mickey quickly stood up and started running. He ran and ran until he reached Colin's friend's house to which he knocked with shaking hand. 

"What?" Gavin mumbled answering the door as he furrowed his eyebrows. "Colin, your kid brother is here!... I think he peed himself, move your ass!" He screamed and Mickey could hear his older brother coming closer to the door. 

"Mickey? The fuck happened?" He asked, but didn't move closer to comfort his younger brother. "Was dad drunk again?" He asked like he knew exactly what would happen. Mickey nodded and Colin sigh. "Look, Mick, just go and find mom, okay?" He then said and that was what calmed Mickey down. His tears stopped running, his hands formed little fist as he stared like into his brother's eyes. 

"I can't. Dad did... He... Mom won't be around anymore. Ever" he said, to which Colin froze. 

"What? Why?" The older Milkovich mumbled and Mickey answered with the same stoic voice his dad used on the porch. 

"Because she met her soulmate" 

***** 

Mickey didn't care about meeting his soulmate since his mother died, but at some point, he started to fear it. He was twelve when he realized that he didn't care about girls as much as his brothers do and that he would much more prefer a guy than a girl. He tried to pretend that he didn't care, that he found girls as hot as Iggy does. He even had sex with a girl when he was fourteen – to stop mockery of his brothers – and talked about it loudly, pretending it was the best thing ever... But it wasn't and after that, he couldn't pretend anymore that he wasn't gay. He calculated that he would be only seventeen when the clock hits zero. He spent time staring at his soulmark as every second brought him closer to his demise. When this clock sets at zero he won't only meet his soulmate, but he also will meet his father's rage. It's a death sentence. 

***** 

He had a plan, very simple and very doable – he will lock himself in his room and won't leave for the entire day when he supposed to meet his soulmate. Fuck destiny, fate, and soulmates whatsoever. Destiny can't move his ass from the bed so he can meet people so he can do whatever he wanted. This way he won't die, and he decided that his life is much more important than some stupid soulmate.  

***** 

"Mick? Isn't your clock set on like this week?" Mandy asked and Mickey froze while sitting in the Livingroom. He looked around and noticed that his dad was too busy with cleaning his gun to hear his kids talking. 

"And?" He growled at his sister and Mandy sat next to him with popcorn. 

"And, you are literally the first one in this family" she pointed out. "Colin still waiting, poor guy will probably meet her when he hits thirty" she mumbled. 

"Thirty-six" Mickey corrected her and Mandy blinked. "He will be thirty-six when he meets her" he repeated, but Mandy still stared at him, her blue eyes full with confusion. 

"And how did you know that?" She asked and Mickey stopped himself from sighing out loud.  

"You know you can count that, right? It's maths" he said and Mandy blinked. 

"And you did maths? Wow, okay. Let's say I believe you" she decided and put a handful of popcorn into her mouth. "You have any plans for the day you meeting her?" Mandy asked. 

"Yeah, I'm going for the drug-roll with Iggy on Sunday. It when it hits zero" he lied. It will happen the day before, but Mandy would probably stop him from doing his plan of 'not-ever-meeting-this-guy-and-this-way-surviving'. He will say that he missed the girl on a busy street or something like that – the perfect plan.  

"Cool. Just don't miss her like Jamie did" Mandy commanded and Mickey nodded, trying to ignore the numbers on his wrist ticking down like a time bomb. 

***** 

His dad found out that Robert Heuny tried to steal his clients and he decided to move on the guy Friday-evening, which meant that he would be back Sunday morning because hiding a body and paying people off takes a lot of time. Mickey's heart skipped the beat when his dad looked at all of them, sitting on the couch and watching some stupid movie when he informed them about the problem. The youngest Milkovich boy froze, trying not to look at his dad – if he will have to go out with his dad on the killing spree and he will meet his soulmate then he will be dead at the spot.  

"Iggy, you are coming with me. Colin, call Jamie, I need him here for that. Mickey, Mandy" Terry looked at them, a cigarette hanging from his lips. "You two are staying here, making sure I will have a fucking alibi for later. No one goes in here" he commanded and Mickey breathed out in relief. Amazing. His dad actually helped his plan as he will spend the day in his room and not letting anyone in because he told him so. It looks like Terry could be helpful after all.  

***** 

Mickey was prepared. He made himself pizza rolls, nachos and brought many other snacks to his room with many fizzy drinks and some beer. He covered his window with a towel – he knew that meeting your soulmate could count as 'seeing them for a second as your gazes meet and you fall in love at the first sight' or something like that, and he wasn't going to risk that. He also informed Mandy that she can go to the second bathroom or at least go through doors from her room because he has no plan on talking to anyone today. She muttered something about him being an 'antisocial prick', but didn't said much more about it.  

Now, he was doodling in one of his notebooks – he liked to draw, but he wouldn't admit that to anyone – trying as hard as he could to ignore that time flew and it was destined for him to meet his soulmate in over three hours. He looked at the drawing only to see a shitty plane on the piece of paper in front of him. Milkovich sighed and looked at his left wrist as it was showing _11873_  – at least he had this 'seconds' clock like most people in his family – except Mandy as she has it divided to minutes as well -, which made all amount of time seem longer. Some people have a number of days, hours, minutes and seconds – this would make counting a lot easier to Mandy so he was glad that he had the hard clock that has to involve maths so she wouldn't see through his bullshit.  

After couple minutes he put down his notebook and sighed loudly, knowing very well that time will flow surprisingly slower today than it would any other day, but he wasn't into the idea of giving up on his plan. He won't leave his room. The end. 

An hour later he was still on his bed, the rest of his weed smoked, snacks almost empty, a notebook and a pencil again in his hands as a drawing of an empty bottle of beer slowly appeared on the paper. When Mickey finished he looked at his wrist again. _7978_ seconds left. One time when he was completely bored in school he decided to see how much he can count before getting bored. He ended up ignoring people for over two hours until he reached 8004. Now the number on his skin is smaller than the number to which he counted when he was bored. He shook his head and stood up to check if his doors are locked – which he already did over twenty times this day. 

***** 

"Mickey? You still alive, asshole?" He heard Mandy screams corresponding with couple strong knocks on the door. The teenager didn't even bother to move to the door as he made sure that his window is completely covered.  

"Nah, bitch, I died an hour ago and now I came back to haunt your ass" he answered with a raised voice and heard Mandy sighing.  

"Fuck you, Mickey... I just wanted to ask if you will leave your room today. I some shitty spaghetti" she added and Mickey's stomach growled like on the cue.  

"I'm good for now. But leave me some, I will eat something in..." He stopped and looked how 3 changed to 2 at the end of _3872_ on his wrist. "-An hour maybe" he finished, sitting back on his bed. 

"Fine. But don't you dare to complain that it's cold" Mandy added and Milkovich could hear how she slowly walks away. He started to admire Mandy for cooking for them around a year before when she left for some school camp for over two weeks and he realized that no one else in their entire family could cook – except Jamie who didn't live with them at the time. His little sister basically kept Milkovich family alive since she was eleven and she definitely deserved respect for that. The problem was – Mickey was terrible with showing that respect to his sister so he hoped that she simply knew it, somewhere deep inside maybe. 

**** 

Mickey became even more paranoid when only half an hour was left to when he was supposed to meet his soulmate. Numbers on his wrist were almost mocking him, going under _1754_ seconds when he checked – and to be honest, for last 20 minutes he was just sitting on the floor and staring at his soulmark. He heard Mandy's phone ringing as gathered his drawings and neatly put them under his bed to make sure that no one will find them.  

"Stop freaking out!" He heard Mandy raised her voice, which caught his attention. "You are a moron. Of course, a guy will love you. He is your soulmate after all" she said after which short break happened, which Mickey assumed was the other person responding. "Stop worrying. You will be fine. You will meet the love of your life and you will be happy. And after that, you have to come to my place and tell me everything, deal?" Another short break and the answer: "Good, see you in two hours" after which Mandy put down the phone and turn up TV volume. Mickey sighed and shook his head. In a way, Mandy's speech helped him, even if it wasn't directed at him. On the other hand, the fact that does not plan to meet his soulmate makes the speech useless. Mickey looked at his soulmark counting down from  _1619_. 

***** 

When his soulmark went below 1000 and hit _999_ Mickey checked all the locks in his room and his window once more after which he decided to put headphones in and ignore the world with that annoying counting down happening on his arm. 

***** 

Ten minutes. _600_ seconds. Mickey took off his pants and stayed in his boxers to make sure that he won't be hit with a sudden urge to run outside.  

***** 

Five minutes. _287_ on his wrist when he heard the phone ringing again. He definitely didn't want to hear Mandy talk about soulmates to her friend, so he turned up the volume on the song that was currently playing. Ignoring the numbers became even harder than before. 

***** 

A hundred seconds. The number kinds can count to since primary school. Slowly the digits changed to _99_ and Mickey swore under his breath, closing his eyes. A minute and a half left and his brain starts to question his plan, sending 'what if...' scenarios to his imagination. Milkovich rejected them all and made sure he didn't move from the place he was sitting at. 

***** 

When his wrist showed _34_ second Mickey felt his stomach punching him from the inside. He didn't know if it was destiny trying to move him or simply pains caused by stress, but he decided to ignore it until his clock stops.  

***** 

 _15_  

His stomach hurts as hell. He started moving on the floor to stop that feeling. 

_14_

He closed his eyes and opened them after the time that felt like couple hours. According to his soulmark, it was only 3 seconds. 

_11_

He put a hand on his stomach. It hurt. 

_10_

He blinked and, in the millisecond, he could see his mom's face. 

_9_

He remembered her words. How she was happy when she spoke about soulmates. How she always smiled while telling him how young he will be, how he won't have time to make any terrible decisions. 

_8_

He remembers how nervous she was couple days before her death. How she used tape to make sure her bandage was covering the numbers. 

_7_

He remembered how he kept finding drops of dry blood on the carpet, floor, and walls in the living-room for over two months after she was gone. 

 _6_  

He stood up after he heard, what he could swear was his mother's voice. 

 _5_  

"You are amazing Mikhailo. Your soulmate will be very lucky to have you" 

 _4_  

He felt like he was about to puke. 

 _3_  

He walked to the bathroom door as he can feel sweat flowing down his face in little drops. He wouldn't admit to himself that it wasn't only sweat. 

 _2_  

He opened the door to the bathroom as his headphones fell out and his MP3 hit the ground. 

_1_

He took a step forward and blinked with surprise. 

_0_

"Holy shit" 

XXXXX 

Ian was freaking out for the entire day as his soulmark showed 3|43|28. In over 3 hours and 43 minutes, he was bound to meet person destined to be with him... Which was a little bit much for the 16-year old.  

***** 

He called Mandy when his soulmark went under 30 minutes. He was wearing his best clothes and made sure he looked as good as he could.  

***** 

When numbers his 20 minutes he walked out of the house, hugging Liam on the way out. 

"Ian?!" Carl called after him. "Good luck with your soulmate! Make sure he is cooler than Aaron!" His brother screamed out of the window and Ian could see Fiona's soulmate in the garden rolling his eyes as his sister kissed him on the cheek.  

"I will try, but can't promise anything!" He yelled back and started walking. He planned to take a bus to... anywhere really and count for good luck.  

***** 

13 minutes and 28 seconds appeared on his hand when he waited for the bus to take him to the town center. 

***** 

There were only 11 minutes left when the bus finally came and Ian walked into it.  

***** 

A woman in the bus noticed his numbers and smiled at him with a nostalgic stare. 

"Big day, huh?" She asked and Ian nodded, feeling like his stomach was about to explode. God, he should've eaten more that day, but he couldn't focus on anything for the entire day. "You're probably nervous. When I met my soulmate, I was dying inside" she added. 

"Yeah it's-" he started and shook his head. "It's my stop actually" he added and walked out way before he was planning to. He looked at his soulmark, showing 0|08|41. Gallagher took a deep breath as he felt tears showing on his face. 'You can't do it. You will fuck up like you fuck everything up' that little voice in his head whispered and Ian decided to deal with anxiety and insecurity the same way he always did – he ran. 

***** 

He didn't have a plan. He could his feet moving, touching the ground only for a millisecond before flying in the air.  

7 minutes. 

6 minutes. 

4 minutes. 

Ian noticed that he run back into his neighborhood. He passed his house, making sure none of his siblings notice him and run forwards. 

3 minutes. 

2 minutes. 

He could feel his stomach and legs hurt and he slowly started losing his breath. Gallagher was shaking, trying to completely empty his head from thoughts. 

1 minute. 

He stopped in front of Milkovich house, feeling exhausted. He knew he cried for some part of his sudden jogging, but at some point, the tears stopped flowing down his face. 

45 seconds. 

He took couple slow steps towards Milkovich house, hoping that Mandy was home like she promised she will be. 

40 seconds. 

He knocked as the adrenaline and panic started to disappear from his body, leaving tired and numb sixteen-year-old standing on his best friend's porch. 

34 seconds. 

He knew he fucked up. Maybe he lost the chance to meet his soulmate forever. 

33 seconds. 

He knew he should be concerned, but all panicked thoughts only hit the wall of something numb inside of him. He just couldn't get himself to care. 

31 seconds. 

"Ian? What the hell are you doing here? You met the guy?" Mandy asked and Ian walked in, slowly shaking his head. 

"I fucked up, Mandy" Gallagher whispered and Mandy froze. 

25 seconds. 

"What did you do? Ian?" She asked and hug him. He could feel her too-strong perfume hitting his nose when he smelled her dark hair.  

"I run away" he mumbled. 

21 seconds.  

"How? Didn't he like you? You didn't tell him he was your soulmate? And please, I beg you, don't tell me that you lost him in the crowd" Mandy started throwing questions and Ian shook his head at every one of them. 

17 seconds. 

"I just... heard this stupid-stupid-voice telling me that I will fuck everything up. That I'm not good for anything... and I believed it" he mumbled, stepping back from the hug. 

14 seconds. 

"Oh, Ian..." Mandy's stare was both sad and disappointed. She really hoped that he will be happy and Ian felt like a piece of shit for not giving her this little thing he could give her if he just didn't chicken out. 

13 seconds. 

He couldn't handle those big blue eyes of his best friend being so sad. Not when he was responsible for that concerned stare. 

12 seconds. 

"I'm going to take a leak" he mumbled and gave Mandy half-smile before walking to the bathroom.  

10 seconds. 

He entered Mandy's room and walked through it before entering the bathroom – he always wondered who came out with the fucked up way to plan their house. 

8 seconds.  

Ian pour some water onto his hands and washed his face before looking up at his reflection. 

7 seconds. 

He knew why he panicked. He saw what soulmates could do to people. He knew that being meant to be with each other doesn't mean being happy with the other person. He had Frank and Monica as a great example of it.  

5 seconds.  

He was just afraid that finding his soulmate will end up either with disappointment or with him destroying the other person's life because he was too fucked up. 

4 seconds. 

He knew it was selfish to make this choice on his own, but his soulmate was meant to be happy without his stupid ass and fucked up life. 

3 seconds.  

Gallagher sighed, looking down at the number as destiny joked from his misery. 

2 seconds. 

He heard something falling on the other side of the door and furrowed his eyebrows while turning around. 

1 second. 

He looked at the door at the same moment they opened and Ian stood face to face with a really surprised man. 

0|0|0 

"Holy shit" he mumbled, looking straight into those similar blue eyes he tried to run away from just a couple seconds ago. "You are my-" he started, but then Milkovich took a step forward. 

"Move" he said sharply, pushing Ian away. Gallagher was shocked and already started planning his rant on the guy who destroyed his perfect soulmate meeting – okay, maybe it wasn't perfect to begin with, but he showing Ian aside didn't help the situation – when he noticed Milkovich bending over the toilet and throwing up. 'Oh' Ian thought and stood there, not really knowing what to do because in all scenarios he imagined he never had this image in front of his eyes... Although he also didn’t think about himself having a panic attack and running away so yeah... 

"You okay?" He asked when the raven-haired boy moved to the sink to wash his lips and mouth. Milkovich raised an eyebrow in the mirror, looking at Ian. 

"Yeah, fucking perfect" he mumbled to Ian and Gallagher could feel shivers going down his spine. God, he already loved this voice.  

"So" Ian started when and stopped after realizing that he didn't know what he wanted to say. "It seems like we are soulmates" he tried and Milkovich bit his lower lip while turning to face Ian – holy shit, he was already teasing Ian, probably without even knowing it.  

"Who are you? And what the fuck are you doing in my bathroom?" He asked, taking the cigarette out of his pocket. 

"I'm Ian Gallagher. Mandy is my friend and I came to visit" he explained and Milkovich raised an eyebrow. 

"So your counting shit tells you that you will meet your soulmate in couple minutes and you decided to visit your friend?" He asked, letting the smoke escape from his mouth. 

"Who the fuck are you to judge? You were in your room and as far as I know it's not the best way to meet your soulmate" Gallagher said and the other boy nodded. 

"Yeah, that was the point" he said and Ian froze at the statement. "I tried not to meet my soulmate. Thanks, for fucking that up by the way" Milkovich explained. 

"I would say sorry, but it's not like I planned this" Ian said, trying not to get offended at his soulmate's words as he had the same way of thinking couple minutes ago. That's why he ended up here in the first place. 

"Don't you fucking say" Milkovich mumbled and sighed. "I'm Mickey" he then added, his cigarette slowly burning in between his lips and tattooed fingers. 

"I know" Ian mumbled and Milkovich raised an eyebrow. "You have a reputation. Also, Mandy talks about you from time to time" Gallagher added and Mickey smiled. "And you are my soulmate" Ian repeated for the third time this day, still having problems with believing what was happening. 

"Sorry to disappoint" Mickey mumbled back and Ian shook his head quickly, never looking away from his soulmate. 

"I'm not disappointed" he said and Milkovich only stared at him. "I'm quite happy to be honest" Gallagher added and Mickey decided to give him reaction this time as he raised an eyebrow and bit his lower lip again – Ian was so doomed with this guy – while checking Ian out. 

"You are?" He mumbled and removed a cigarette from his lips only to hold it for a second in between his fingers.  

"Hell, yeah I am" Ian quickly re-insured his soulmate while taking a little step closer to him. "I had this completely selfish and shallow fear that my soulmate won't be my type" he confessed as a little smirk appeared on his face. "And now I see you and, what can I say, you are just sooo hot" Gallagher mumbled and shook his head while trying to keep an eye contact with Mickey. "I was really close to kissing you on the spot, but then you decided to puke and that destroyed the mood a little bit" he then added and Mickey shook his head. 

"You like to talk, don't you Gallagher?" He asked and Ian smiled, nodding slowly. 

"That's my only flaw" Gallagher answer and Milkovich chuckled, taking one missing step and making them stand close enough to kiss. 

"And humble too" Mickey added, breaking the eye contact only to look down at Ian's lips. Gallagher nodded and tried to think about something to say, but nothing that made sense actually came to his mind. 

"Fuck" he only mumbled when starring at older boy as he moved quickly and connected their lips. Ian heard before all fairy-tales about how the first kiss between soulmates is 'simply magical'. Now, he had problems with describing kiss in the bathroom that still smelled like puke 'magical', but with Mickey he managed to think that to himself, because as their lips connected all around them disappeared, leaving two of them in the universe... At least that how he felt when he deepened the kiss. And he assumed Mickey felt the same way as none of them noticed that one of the doors opened until they heard raised voice behind Ian. 

"What the fuck?!" Mandy yelled and in that second their magical kiss broke as Mickey froze and pushed Ian away. Gallagher almost fell down and when he hit his head on the wall he was close to rolling his eyes because of course something fucked up their first kiss.  

"Oh, hi Mandy, it's-" Ian tried, but Mickey interrupted him. 

"It's nothing. You saw fucking nothing and you say nothing" he growled towards his sister who managed to close her mouth although her eyes still screamed in confusion. 

"What are you talking about, fuckface? I don't care you like dudes! I'm more surprised I caught you making out with that fucker after he had a panic attack about his soulmate five minutes ago" she said looking at Ian for a second, but quickly going back to look at her brother.  

"You... don't care?" Mickey mumbled and Mandy rolled her eyes. 

"Of course, I don't care. Not all of us are homophobic pricks like Terry. Iggy's friend is bi and Jamie had a girlfriend who is trans... Colin is an exception, he is a fucking copy of his dad" Mandy said. She sighed and took step towards her older brother. "This... the fact that you are gay... It changes absolutely nothing" she then said with a quiet and relaxing voice that reminded Mickey of their mother. Milkovich siblings hugged and Ian let himself smile while watching the scene. 

"Thanks" Mickey whispered into Mandy's neck and a girl nodded. 

"No problem" she answered equally quiet before she broke the hug and took a step back only to look at them both at the same time. "Now I expect some explanation of what happened here when I walked in" she added. Ian looked at Mickey who opened his mouth and then closed it. Gallagher decided to answer that question as Mickey clearly had enough heart-to-heart talks for a day. 

"Remember when I was freaking out about my soulmate?" Ian offered and Mandy looked at him like he was the dumbest person alive. 

"Yeah, it was ten minutes ago. Hard to forget" she said and Ian nodded. 

"Right. So... I wasn't freaking out because I was rejected or lost them... I was freaking out because I chickened out before I even meet anyone... So, when I came here my soulmark was still counting down" he explained and Mandy nodded. Ian didn't know how to continue so he just shoved his right hand in front of Mandy's face and showed her his counter being on –0|07|53. Mandy looked at negative numbers surprised as 53 changed into 54 on her eyes. She looked up and connected her gaze with Ian's. "And then I met your brother" he added as if it wasn't already painfully clear. 

"But Mickey said..." She started and looked at her brother. "You said that your soulmark will hit zero tomorrow! I even wanted to bake you a fucking cake for that!" Mandy raised her voice and Mickey nodded. 

"Yeah I-I lied about that because I knew If I told you then you wouldn't let me follow my plan" Milkovich mumbled and now it was Mandy's turn to raise her eyebrow, looking down at her brother's mark that was showing  _–492_. Ian just now noticed that his soulmate had an 'seconds-only' counter and started to feel bad for him, because dividing everything by 60 just to be sure is hard and unnecessary and Ian was just really happy that almost everyone in his family had hours, minutes and seconds – Carl had also days and months on his for some reason and Debbie's mark contained only minutes and seconds. 

"A plan?" She asked, clicking her tongue at the end. "You mean, locking yourself in your room?" She figured out and Mickey nodded. There was a moment of silence before Mandy punched Mickey in the arm. "You are an idiot" she decided and smiled. "You should that God or universe or fuck knows what makes up the rules here, for Ian having a panic attack and coming here" she added and sighed. "I'll leave you now. You can do whatever you want... just be quiet. And then I still want to talk" she added and walked out of the bathroom. "Oh, and Ian" she stopped and looked him in the eyes, a small smile appearing on her lips. "Welcome to the family, I guess" Mandy said and Ian smiled. 

"Thanks" he only mumbled back as his best friend walked out, leaving him and Mickey alone – as promised. Gallagher looked at his soulmate. "So-" he started, but Milkovich didn't let him finish. 

"We have time 'till tomorrow morning. You wanna waste that with talking?" He asked and Ian couldn't stop grinning as he took two steps forward and connected their lips again. "Gallagher-" Mickey mumbled, pushing him away. "My room is right fucking there" he mumbled, but Ian connected his lips with Mickey's neck and smiled when older boy hold back the moan. "With, you know, functioning, quite comfortable bed" he added, biting his lower lip. Ian sucked harder on Milkovich's neck until he received a quiet moan. Redhead then stopped and took a step back, while not breaking the eye contact and grinning like an idiot. 

"Lead the way" he said and Mickey needed a second to understand what he was talking about. He finally got it and shook his head while walking into his room, Gallagher following right after. 

"My soulmate is a fucking asshole" he mumbled under his breath and Ian laughed before pushing Mickey on his bed. 

**Author's Note:**

> Did you know that 17years have 5361120000 seconds? 
> 
> Anyway, I wrote it on New Year's Eve and forgot to publish it in the old year so now let it be my first fic of 2018 ;)  
> I hope you all like it. Leave a comment or something, If you want, of course. 
> 
> Also: another soulmate AU?! Will I ever got bored with them?!... No. I probably won't xD
> 
> Title based on 'Countdown to Love' by Greg Philinganes


End file.
